21 and counting! Gor Mahia crowned 23/24 Kenyan champions
23rd June 2024
K'Ogalo finished the season on 73 points, getting their highest points finish since the 18/19 season.
- Benson Omalla scored twice to clinch the 23/24 Golden Boot.
- Golkeeper Kevin Omondi also won the Golden Glove.
- The game against Bidco United was Johnathan McKinstry's last as Gor Mahia head coach.
- McKinstry departs after two seasons where he won the league titles in both the 22/23 and 23/24 campaigns.
Gor Mahia capped off a fantastic 2023/24 campaign with a
brilliant 4-3 win over Bidco United on the day that they were crowned Kenyan
champions for a record-extending 21st time in front of a packed Kenyatta
Stadium in Machakos County on Sunday afternoon.
Having already sealed the league title with three games to
spare, Gor Mahia put the icing on the cake with Benson Omalla finally
overcoming last season’s near miss to clinch the Golden Boot for the 23/24 campaign
after getting a brace that took his tally to 19 goals, three ahead of Tito
Okello (Kenya Police) and John Mark Makwatta (Kariobangi Sharks) who finished
on 16 apiece.
It was also a bittersweet moment for K’Ogalo who bid goodbye
to Northern Irish tactician Johnathan McKinstry took charge of his last game at
the club having landed the head coaching role with The Gambia national team.
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“I am going to miss the passion of the K’Ogalo army and the K’Ogalo family but I am really pleased to be able to go out on a day like today.
A lot
of work went into what we are seeing now and development that the players have
shown over the last two years has been fantastic and they fully deserve it,”
McKinstry said after the game.
Omalla, who lost the Golden Boot on the last day of the
22/23 season, started the match like a man who had learnt his lessons as he
found the back of the net inside the opening minutes, before grabbing his brace
just four minutes later when he dusted himself and tucked in a penalty.
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Gor Mahia however took their foot off the gas pedal and
found themselves conceding ten minutes to the half time break with John Kelwish
finding the first of his two goals to half the deficit at the break.
He completed his brace in the 67th minute to dampen the mood
of the K’Ogalo faithful but McKinstry’s decision to bring on highly-rated
teenager Mark Shaban proved to be a masterstroke as the 17-year-old cleverly
dinked the ball over the keeper to reignite the fire in the crowds.
Ronney Onyango then added a fourth for Gor Mahia but Bidco managed to pull one back deep in stoppage time but it proved too little too late as Gor celebrated their 21st title.
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